The Brewers Association. a not-for-profit trade group for U.S. breweries, today released its annual lists of the top 50 craft and overall brewing companies in the U.S., based on 2011 beer sales volume. Of the top 50 overall brewing companies, 36 are small and independent¹ craft brewing companies.

“In the last 15 years, craft brewing has gone from one percent of the overall beer market to almost six percent in 2011,” Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association, said in a press release. “We attribute a large part of that growth to the many talented brewers who are providing beer lovers with more beer style and flavor choices than ever before.”

The Brewers Association defines an American craft brewer as small, with production of less than 6 million barrels; independent (less than 25 percent owned by another producer of alcoholic beverages), and traditional, with either an all malt flagship or has at least 50 percent of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor.